Got Milk?

Do you ever sit there and think about how lucky you are? It is in really strange moments that I find myself thankful for all the people in my life.

Most recently, I was at my office Friday morning gushing over weekend plans and making jabs at my "office big brother" PotRoast, and the subject of baseball came up. We started talking about Ranger Games and my thoughts wondered to one of my Dallas buddies, Milk (B's best friend). I met B and Milk at the same time, B and I hit it off first but I've kept in touch with both.

To understand my relationship with Milk there are a few things you have to know. We communicate mostly over AIM and at work. It started when I was a Mortgage Lender in 2009. He sat at a computer all day and I did too, mostly. Somehow we started IMing and that is how we keep in touch.

You may think that it is extremely impersonal to talk almost exclusively over text but I would disagree. For example, one day I was ranting over something completely pointless but it had passionately enraged me. I was needing to vent and be affirmed of the validity of my opinion (over what I couldn't even tell you). I chose Milk as the person to listen. He willingly did this, via IM and as soon as I was done he asked, "Is it shark week?" Referring to my menstrual cycle. I hastily respond with, "why is that important?" He says, "So it is. OK I just needed to know how to respond." He followed with a completely irrational agreement to whatever it was I was in an uproar about and when I was good and calmed down he said, "I think I know you pretty well, when I can tell from Dallas, over IM, that you are hormonal." I laughed because it's true and he does.

Milk has a special place in my heart. He has given me love and career advice. He is the guy that will listen to me bitch about men and then give me a brutally honest opinion followed by a compliment to cushion the blow of reality.

The talk of Rangers brings him to mind so I log onto AIM just to say hi. He responds to my chipper "how are ya?" with a bland "ok, I guess" leaving me concerned. We delve into what's going on with him which is rare, that he vents to me.

He has committed to keeping his most recent ex's dog, while she goes away for the weekend. He is hurt because she isn't really responding to his texts, and when she does she seems distant, annoyed, or preoccupied, maybe a combination of them all. This hurts his feelings, which it should. So we go into him dealing with the solid move to the "buddy zone" and what he should do about it.

I did what any good girl friend would do, I offered to come to Dallas and take care of the dog with him, insuring her raging jealous and an even playing field. I knew he would laugh and not take me up on this, which is good 'cause I had plans. Then I said "let's say this is me and I am telling you this exact story, because let's face it this sounds like something I would do. What would you tell me?" He and I both answered with what his recommendations would be, acknowledging how difficult it is to follow your own sound advice. Understanding that she was taking advantage of his kindness. She knew he would offer to help her out and that her expectation of him was being fulfilled. I told him, he needed to be comfortable in being just friends. If he wasn't then it was time for some distance to get over her. We talked about how she would come home and communication would revert right back to her normal comfort level but it wasn't fair to have things solely on her terms. I am not sure how much help I was but I do know that I told him I loved him and that he deserved a great girl and that he was still really hot! All the things I would want to hear...

Listening to Milk and telling him how much I appreciate who he is and would do anything I could for him just showed me how blessed I am. I am lucky that I have people in my life I care for this much. He has read some of my blog, laughed at me but I know he wants me to be happy and find a good loving man to share my life with; he supports me. I am not sure he will be too happy as the subject of one of my blog posts and he might not like his nickname either.